Possessions
by Jade12
Summary: Slash/Het. Chloe and Lex discuss their relationship. Future Fic. C/C/L
1. Confession

"I want a dog," Chloe said and flopped down into one of the comfy leather chairs in the study. She looked over at Lex and waited for him to respond. He appeared to be working on his thesis again. It was all he seemed to do lately. If he could finish it soon, he would be able to start work on his PhD in the fall and that was what he really wanted to be doing.  
  
Lex's eyebrows rose immediately but it took a moment longer for him to look up and meet Chloe's eyes. Lex saved his document and then reached out and closed the laptop computer he had been working on. He looked up at her and smirked softly at her words. Chloe couldn't help but find it charming.  
  
"Hello Chloe. How was your day? Where's Clark?" Lex asked her teasingly.  
  
"Hi Lex. My day was fine. Clark's still on campus doing some research. I finished early and decided to come home," Chloe responded to his questions. She sat forward in her chair and rested her elbows on her knees. Lex was trying to avoid the topic. This was going to be an interesting conversation, she could tell already.  
  
"You have the car?" Lex asked. Chloe could hear the surprise in his voice. It wasn't like her to leave Clark on campus without the car they shared.  
  
"No, I took the bus," she supplied even though she knew her confession would not make her older lover happy.  
  
"The bus?" Lex nearly growled.   
  
Chloe honestly still didn't understand Lex's objection to her taking the bus. He had told her several times that they would buy another car for her if the arrangement with Clark wasn't working out, but Chloe had refused each time. She didn't mind taking the bus, and, no matter how long she had been with Lex, taking things from him still made her feel a little nervous. Lex had money, everyone knew that, but Chloe didn't want it to look like that was the reason she was in the relationship.  
  
"Lex," Chloe persisted, "I want a dog."  
  
"You know I don't like you taking the bus," Lex continued on his own line of thought. "I would have come and picked you up if you had called me. And what was Clark thinking? He knows better than this."  
  
"Clark isn't my keeper. And I might sleep with you two, but it doesn't give either of you the right to tell me what I can and can't do."  
  
"You could get hurt," Lex insisted.  
  
"Oh, for god's sake, Lex, it's just the bus. It's not like I was skulking around in dark alleys in the middle of the night. Besides, we live in Glenwood. Stop being such a snob."  
  
"Chloe," Lex protested. He sounded genuinely taken aback by her words. Chloe just rolled her eyes. Lex was never going to understand her and she was never going to understand him either.  
  
"You're not listening to me," she complained. "I want a dog."  
  
Lex sighed and leaned back in his chair. He ran one of his hands over his baldhead and stared directly at Chloe. "Oh, I'm listening. I'm just choosing to ignore." Only the slight gleam in his eye let Chloe know that he was really teasing her and not entirely serious.  
  
"Lex," Chloe protested with a small laugh.  
  
"You're on hold in my brain," Lex told her in a slightly juvenile tone and moved so that he could place his feet up on the desk. He looked like the picture of careless wealth. It was such a façade and they both knew it. Chloe felt an almost overwhelming desire to go over and crawl into his lap, but knew she needed to hold off, if only for a little while longer.  
  
"Lex, I really want a dog," Chloe insisted. "I've been thinking about this for a while and Suzie, in my history class, her dog had puppies a while ago and now they're ready to go out to homes, and, Lex, I really want one."  
  
"Oh?" Lex asked. His eyebrow rose again at her insistence. He swung his feet down off the desk and leaned forward towards Chloe. "What does Clark think?"  
  
"I haven't talked to him, but you know he'll go along with it. Big dumb farm boys; they all love dogs, don't they?"  
  
"Clark's not dumb."  
  
"I know that," Chloe said with a sigh and fought off the urge to growl in frustration. Why did Lex always insist on making everything so god-dammed difficult? Couldn't they just have a normal conversation for once? "And that's not the point. I want a dog. I know Clark won't have a problem with it. I just... Lex, I really want it. They're so cute."  
  
"This is kind of sudden, isn't it Chloe?" Lex asked.  
  
"Not really. I've wanted a dog all my life, but it was just dad and I, and we moved a lot when I was younger. And then we settled in Smallville and he was working a lot and I had school stuff and we didn't have much of a backyard. It just never happened."   
  
"You don't really need my permission, you know that, right Chlo?" Lex asked her softly.  
  
"Of course, I do," Chloe said earnestly. "It's your house."  
  
"What?" Lex asked. He sounded horrified and Chloe couldn't understand what she had said to elicit that kind of reaction. "This is not my house..." Lex protested.  
  
"Yes it is."  
  
"... this is our house," he insisted. Lex paused for a moment with a confused and slightly hurt look on his face. "You don't honestly believe that, do you, sweetie?"  
  
"You paid for it," she insisted. They had spent the summer after her first year of university looking at houses and picking the one that was just right for them. They had moved in just before Chloe's nineteenth birthday that August. Lex had purchased it outright, and even though Chloe knew that her and Clark's names were on the papers, she had never truly thought of the place as being 'her' house. Sure, it was their house, but Lex was still the one who had paid for it. In her mind, that meant that he got the final opinion on anything that went on there.  
  
"You don't feel like this is your home?" Lex asked shortly. The hardness that took over him when he was feeling hurt or threatened was just beginning to edge into his eyes. Chloe cringed. This wasn't what she had intended at all.  
  
Chloe looked down at her hands. Her nails were neatly trimmed and polished with a pale pink nail polish that Lex had picked out to go with the dress she had worn to dinner on Saturday. She had planned on using a darker color, but Lex had insisted that the pale pink was both more sophisticated and brought out her gentle, feminine softness. Chloe hadn't been quite sure that was what she was trying to accomplish, but since it was a dinner with Lex's colleagues, Chloe had accepted his suggestion. Clark had attended as well. It had been a while now since they had tried hiding their relationship, and most of the people Lex worked with knew of the situation. More than a few of them likely had some kind of issue with it, but they tended to keep their opinions to themselves and that was good enough for the three of them.  
  
"Lex, it's not that I don't think of this as home. It's just..." Chloe trailed off. She was still looking down at her hands. She ran the index finger of her right hand over the nail on the index finger of her left. "It's just that it's your house."  
  
"It's our house," Lex insisted. Chloe looked up and saw that he was standing behind the desk now.   
  
"Lex."  
  
"Why is this such an issue with you, Chloe?" Lex asked. He moved around the desk and came to stand next to the chair she was sitting in. His hand traveled down and tangled into her hair. She leaned into the touch slightly. "You've never been able to accept anything from me without feeling bad about it."  
  
"That's not true," Chloe protested.  
  
"Nothing of value," Lex amended his statement.  
  
"I just... I... Lex, that's not why I'm with you," Chloe eventually managed to stutter out.  
  
"I know that," he insisted. His fingers traveled over her scalp and started to massage it gently.  
  
"I know," Chloe said and moaned softly at what his fingers were doing to her head.  
  
"Clark doesn't think that either," Lex murmured. He sat down on the arm of the chair to continue his caress.  
  
"I know that too," Chloe assured him.  
  
"Then what's wrong?" he asked. Lex leaned in and dropped a small kiss on her temple.  
  
Chloe sighed. Lex just wasn't going to drop this now. He was upset, although Chloe realized that it wasn't really with her, and he was going to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was bothering her so much.  
  
"People talk," she eventually said softly. It was almost a whisper when it escaped her mouth and, for a moment, Chloe wondered if Lex had heard her at all. Then Lex tensed up beside her and she knew he had heard.  
  
"Did someone say something to you?" he demanded. There was an edge in his voice that really scared her. This was the voice he usually saved for dealing with his father and other people that he knew were going to be difficult with him.  
  
"Nothing I haven't heard before," Chloe admitted.  
  
"Who was it?" Lex asked.  
  
"It doesn't really matter," she said with a sigh. She didn't want to relive the moment. Not thinking about it or talking about it was the best way to ensure that wouldn't happen.  
  
"Chloe," Lex growled low in his throat and slipped off the arm of the chair to kneel in front of her. "Please tell me." He wrapped his hands around her fingers and stared up at her.   
  
Chloe closed her eyes at his intense glare. She didn't want to deal with this. She hadn't planned on bringing this issue up with him today, if ever. She just wanted a dog, and Suzie was waiting on Chloe's decision before she offered the puppies to anyone else so that Chloe could get the first pick. So she needed to make this decision now, and she had just wanted to make sure that it was okay with Lex before she brought an animal into a house that he had paid for.   
  
"Chloe," Lex repeated her name.  
  
"My father," Chloe breathed and pulled her hands out of Lex's grip. She drew her legs up into the chair with her and curled up as small as she could. She really hadn't wanted to deal with this. She loved her father and she knew that her father loved her. She didn't want Lex or Clark to think that he was an awful man. It was just that he would never be able to understand why his only child, his little girl, would choose to live this way.  
  
"Ah, sweetie, I'm sorry," Lex said and reached out to draw her into his arms. "When did he say that?"  
  
"Couple times," Chloe admitted in a soft murmur. She expected Lex to say something then but he just remained silent and waited for her to continue. "When I first told him and a couple of times since then. He understands how I could love Clark. He always kind of wanted us to get together. But he doesn't understand how I could love you, or how I could love both of you at the same time. He thinks it's your name, or your money, or the prestige of being with you, or something like that. It couldn't simply be that I fucking well love you, could it?" Chloe demanded. Her voice rose in volume as she continued speaking, and by the end she was yelling and sobbing softly.  
  
"I'm sorry," Lex mumbled and ran his hand over her hair and down the back of her head. He leaned in further and kissed the side of her neck. "I wish I could just marry you." He didn't seem to register what he was saying until the words were actually out of his mouth. He froze suddenly.  
  
So did Chloe. It was perhaps the last thing she had ever expected Lex Luthor to say to her. "What?" she asked slowly.  
  
"I..." Lex stuttered. He pushed back from Chloe and looked at her somewhat uncertainly. "Well, it would solve a lot of problems, wouldn't it?" he asked her softly. "Make your father happy."  
  
"Are you serious about this?"  
  
"Well I would be, but there's Clark," Lex told her. "And that's not a bad thing. It just makes it harder. There's no legal way for the three of us to be together like that."  
  
"But you would if you could?"  
  
"You wouldn't be able to stop me. I love you," Lex told her sincerely. Chloe smiled happily. Lex said that so rarely, but it never failed to make her heart skip at least one beat. She knew that both he and Clark loved her. Clark said it so much that it seemed almost commonplace to hear it. From Lex it was like a little gift. "That's why I want you to feel that the house is as much yours as it is mine or Clark's, because really it is."  
  
Chloe nodded slowly. She could give Lex this if it meant that much to him. And knowing that Lex loved her enough to want to be her husband somehow made the rest of it all okay, no matter what anyone else said, because now she knew that he felt the same way she did. She didn't need to feel like the odd one out any longer.  
  
"Okay, it's our house," she conceded and Lex smiled happily. "But don't think this means that you can buy me things whenever you feel like it, Lex," she warned him.  
  
"We'll have to work on that one," Lex said with a smirk.  
  
Chloe swatted him lightly on the shoulder, then leaned in to kiss him. When she pulled back she was smiling happily. "So does that mean I can have a dog?" she asked cheekily. She was almost bouncing with excitement.  
  
"If that's what you want," Lex assured her.  
  
"Cool," Chloe said. She climbed out of the chair, over Lex, and dived for the phone on the desk. She was already dialing Suzie's number before Lex was able to respond.  
  
"Umm, wait, what kind of dog is this?" Lex asked. He suddenly sounded very nervous.  
  
"Golden Lab," Chloe supplied. "Hey, Suz," she greeted her friend as the other woman picked up the phone. "Yeah, we decided we want one. Can we come over now?"  
  
"Aren't those big?" Lex asked, but Chloe waved off his question.  
  
"Yeah, we'll be right there. I'm so excited. Yeah, we. Lex is coming with me," Chloe said and then turned around to give her bald partner a questioning look. Lex nodded slowly at her silent question. "Thanks, Suz. Bye."  
  
"I was thinking more like a lap dog," Lex said when Chloe hung up the phone.  
  
"You'll love it," Chloe told him as she led him out of the room. "They're so friendly, and loyal. We can take it to the park and you'll be able to run with it. They're great with children, too."  
  
"Children?" Lex asked in surprise as he followed her.  
  
"Well not now, but some day, right?" Chloe pulled on her coat and tossed Lex's to him.  
  
"Umm," was the man's only response.  
  
"Oh, maybe we should grab some towels."  
  
"Towels?"  
  
"Well we don't want it making a mess in the car, do we?"  
  
"My car," Lex exclaimed in dismay. It was as if he had just realized that they were going to put a rather large puppy into the Ferrari.  
  
"Our car," Chloe reminded him happily as she let herself out of the house. "I wonder if we should buy a dog house."  
  
"Oh god," Lex groaned as he dashed to go get the towels before following behind her. "If I didn't love you so much..."  
  
Chloe just laughed happily. He had said it twice. It was going to be a good day. They were going to have a good life. No matter what anyone said. 


	2. Confrontation

Lex waited until he heard Clark and Chloe's car leave the driveway before he pushed himself back from his desk and stood up. Clark and Chloe were going out to see a movie. Lex had begged off saying that he had too much work to do to take a break right then. His two lovers had tried to convince him to come, but he had been determined not to let himself be convinced to go with them. He had other plans for the evening and they were more important than seeing a movie.  
  
He took a couple of steps away from the desk and heard a slight metallic jangle behind him. Lex smiled. "Come, Kay," he said and patted his leg to encourage the young dog to follow him out of the room.  
  
It had been a week now since he and Chloe had picked Kayla up from Suzie's house. She had taken to Lex almost immediately, in that way that all animals do to the person who least wants them around. Likely it was because Lex was the one who spent the most time at the house lately, trying to finish up his thesis in time to graduate that summer, but Chloe was convinced that she could somehow sense Lex's reluctance for her company. Kayla had started sleeping under his desk the third day she was with them and now, if Lex was in the study, Kayla was almost sure to be found with him.   
  
Lex knew he was melting towards the puppy. He was surprised that he liked her as much as he did. When they had gone to pick her up, he had been supportive of Chloe, but he really hadn't been looking forward to having a dog in the house. It was a responsibility that they would have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Feeding, training, walking, all of those things would need to be done. It seemed like a lot of effort that they didn't have the time for right then. But Chloe had wanted a dog; so Lex would put up with it, even help her get the puppy. He was wrapped around her finger, and he knew it, even though he would never admit it to anyone else.  
  
Lex exited the room. He heard the small dog stand up, stretch, and then trot along after him, her tags clicking against each other. Lex was strangely glad to have her there with him. It meant that he wasn't alone in the large house, even though his lovers were out. It was comforting. Nice.  
  
There was something that had been bothering him since the day they had gotten Kayla, and he intended to deal with it that night. In his mind, he could still see Chloe sitting curled up in the chair in the study, unshed tears forming in her eyes as she told him about what her father had said, not just once, but several times. Lex had comforted her as best as he knew how and pretended to let it go. He had reasoned that it would be easier for her if she didn't know how angry he was, and Lex was furious. No one hurt someone he loved and got away with it. He didn't care who they were.  
  
At the same time, Lex knew that his reaction to this situation with Chloe was different from the reaction he would have if the same thing were occurring with Clark. They had dealt with Jonathan Kent's bigotry for years without Lex feeling this overwhelming need to confront the man about it. It had been different, though. Clark's father had attacked Lex directly. He hadn't often gone through Clark, and when he had, Clark had told Lex about it right away. Truthfully that was another thing bothering Lex as well, the fact that Chloe hadn't said anything about it until the other day. Lex planned to bring it up with her as well, but after he had spoken with her father.  
  
He hated to admit that it was different with Chloe because she was a woman, but when it came right down to it, Lex knew that was exactly what it was. Clark was big and strong and male. When Lex was around him, he felt safe and protected. Chloe was small and female. She was not weak, but she was... delicate. Everything about her reminded Lex that he was male, that he was supposed to be the protector. She set off protective instincts that he hadn't even known he possessed.  
  
Of course, he would never mention any of that to Chloe. She would never understand and she would likely find it offensive. Lex didn't even know if Clark would understand it, since he likely felt protective of both Chloe and Lex. That was simply the way Clark was. So his differing instincts about his lovers would likely stay his little secret. As secrets went, it really wasn't that bad, Lex reasoned.  
  
He'd waited all week for an opportunity to call Chloe's father. Lex had wanted to make the call in the evening, since calling the man at work simply wouldn't have been appropriate, but either Clark or Chloe or both had always been home in the evening since. He wanted privacy for the call and he'd finally gotten it that night when Clark and Chloe had decided that they wanted to go out together.  
  
Lex headed into the kitchen and retrieved the address book that Chloe kept in the drawer next to the phone. When they had all moved in together, she had carefully copied all of the contact numbers for their families into the little book. Just in case there was an emergency and someone needed to get hold of someone else, she had told them. So, although Lex had never called Chloe's father, he knew that the man's number would be in Chloe's little multi-colored book.   
  
Lex picked up the phone, entered Mr. Sullivan's home number, and then moved out of the kitchen into the living room before connecting the call. Lex sat down on the end of the couch, spreading out somewhat to get comfortable. Kayla saw him sit down and came to rest next to his feet. One of her paws fell heavily on his left foot. He really didn't understand how she had become so attached to him in such a short period of time, but she certainly did seem to like him.   
  
Chloe had even teased him a little bit about that earlier in the day, saying that since Kay was becoming his dog, that maybe she should go back and get a second puppy for herself. Lex had laughed and reminded Chloe that Kayla always ran straight to her as soon as she came home from school. He knew that the woman wasn't trying to make him feel bad, but Lex had still felt a little sad. He hadn't meant to take Chloe's dog away from her. He knew how much it meant to her to have the puppy. He was going to have to try and think of some way to make it right.  
  
Right now he had a call to make, though. Lex pressed the call button and waited for Chloe's father to pick up on the other end. It only took two rings for the older man to answer.  
  
"Hello?" Chloe's father said cheerily. Lex knew his voice from the year that they had worked together in Smallville, as well as from the various calls Chloe had received from him since she'd moved in with Clark and Lex. He sounded happy to be taking the call. Lex knew the man likely had call display and assumed that it was Chloe calling him.  
  
"Mr. Sullivan," Lex greeted the older man. Although he had always called the man 'Gabe' when they were working together, Lex had taken to calling Chloe's father by his last name since their relationship started. It just seemed more proper that way. The relationship they had now was a completely different one than when Lex had been his boss. "This is Lex Luthor."  
  
"Oh god. Is Chloe okay?" he asked quickly and Lex was surprised by the amount of fear that seemed to be present in his voice. It was good to see him concerned about his daughter, no matter what she might be involved in, but it wasn't what Lex had intended to do at all.  
  
"Chloe's fine, Mr. Sullivan," Lex assured his young lover's father.  
  
"Oh, thank god," Mr. Sullivan said and sighed heavily. He sounded relieved and Lex felt bad. He hadn't called to scare the older man. If he had, there would have been better ways to accomplish it.  
  
"I'm sorry," Lex apologized and then continued with his original line of thought. "I need to talk to you about something, though."  
  
"Oh. Okay," Chloe's father said slowly. Lex knew he probably had no idea why he was being called.  
  
"I was speaking with Chloe the other day, and she was very upset about something that you had said to her; that she was only with me because of my money."  
  
"Lex," Chloe's father protested. He sounded surprised and a little annoyed to be having this conversation. He had probably figured that since he hadn't heard anything right away that Chloe wasn't going to say anything to Lex. He probably also thought that it was none of Lex's business what he said to his own daughter. But on that point, Chloe's father was so wrong. Chloe was his partner and everything that was said to her was Lex's business.  
  
"Gabe," Lex returned in a low voice. The use of the man's first name was a carefully considered move to remind him of who had been whose boss in the past. He wasn't going to take any crap from this man. Chloe had been almost crying and that was unacceptable.  
  
"Not recently," the older man protested.  
  
"While she was there over Christmas, wasn't it?" Lex asked.   
  
He knew it had been a bad idea for the three of them to split up over the holiday. It had been there first Christmas together and Lex had wanted to take them away somewhere and have a real vacation, but Chloe had wanted to see her dad. She knew that he wasn't ready to deal with the physical reality of the three of them together, though, so she had wanted to go alone. Eventually Lex had agreed to what Chloe wanted, and, not feeling right about going away with only Clark, had accompanied Clark on a visit with his own parents. Lex had a bad feeling the entire time they had been apart, but nothing had even come of it until now.  
  
"I worry for her," Mr. Sullivan insisted.  
  
"I worry about her too," Lex snapped. "Especially when she's sitting in front of me almost crying because her father has been deliberately cruel to her. Have you ever even asked me why I'm with your daughter?"  
  
"I know why you're with her," Mr. Sullivan snarled. "You won't let Clark go. It's warped and immoral, Lex."  
  
The comment made Lex want to lash out in defense of his separate relationship with Clark, and, for a moment, he needed to remind himself what that call was supposed to really be about. He took a slow, deep breath before continuing. "I love her."  
  
"Like you love, Clark," the other man sneered.  
  
"No," Lex insisted. "Not at all like I love Clark. I love Clark because he makes me feel safe and in control. He makes me feel human. He makes me different than my father. I need to love Clark. I can't not love him. But Chloe I choose to love. I love her because she's funny and witty and smart. I love her because she makes me laugh and because she's a beautiful person. But mostly, I love her because she loves me. And if you think that any of that is wrong, then fine, you're not one of the people whose opinion matters to me. But if you have a problem with me, you come to me. Leave Chloe out of it."  
  
"Lex..."  
  
"I mean it, Gabe. I won't have my partner coming to me like this again. She deserves better from you. She loves you so much."  
  
"I didn't know that you cared so much about her," Mr. Sullivan insisted.  
  
"All you ever had to do was ask," Lex told him.  
  
Lex heard a key in the front door only a moment before it opened. He looked up and saw Chloe step inside. He caught her eyes and she looked surprised to see him sitting in the living room talking on the phone.  
  
"Hey, Lex," she greeted him with a smile on her face.  
  
"Chloe," Lex said and nodded back. "You guys decide not to go out?"  
  
"Nah," Chloe laughed slightly. "Just forgot my wallet." She crossed the room and picked up the little purse that was on the coffee table. Lex hadn't even noticed it sitting there before.   
  
"Hey, Kay," Chloe said and leaned down to pet the dog sitting at Lex's feet. The little dog moved around to nuzzle at Chloe's hand and she laughed softly. She looked back up at Lex. "Important?" she asked and nodded towards the phone that Lex was holding.  
  
"Not really," Lex lied.  
  
"You sure we can't convince you to come with us?"  
  
"I'm sorry," Lex told her. He really did have some work that he needed to get done after he got off the phone with her father.  
  
"It's okay," Chloe said with a shrug. "We'll think of you," she told him cheekily and then leaned down to steal a kiss.  
  
"I'll think of you too, love," Lex told her softly.  
  
"Mmm," Chloe muttered with a giggle and smiled. Lex knew how happy it made her when he called her that; it just wasn't always easy for him to express his feelings. "Love you too," she whispered and leaned in to steal one more kiss.  
  
"Have fun," Lex insisted.  
  
"We will."   
  
Chloe smiled broadly and then headed out of the living room. Lex waited until she had exited the house and locked the door behind her before he returned his attention to his call.  
  
"She sounds happy," Chloe's father observed.  
  
"She is."  
  
"Lex?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Take care of her?"  
  
"If I don't, Clark will kick my ass."  
  
"I'm still not happy about the whole situation..."  
  
"You don't have to be," Lex assured him.  
  
"...but I'll deal with it if it's really what she wants."  
  
"That's all I ask."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"And Gabe? Call your daughter and resolve this with her. She loves you. This isn't worth losing your relationship over," Lex suggested. He wasn't happy about what had happened, but he knew how much Chloe loved her dad. He was the only parent she had, and it wasn't fair for her to be alienated from him because of her relationship with Lex. Clark's rift with his parents was enough of a burden for Lex to bear.  
  
"I... okay," the older man conceded.  
  
"Good. Good-bye, Mr. Sullivan."  
  
"Bye, Lex," the other man returned and then both of them hung up.   
  
Lex sighed heavily. It hadn't been easy for him to hold back and not yell at the other man, but Lex had gone into the conversation with a plan and he seemed to have communicated most of what he had wanted to. Mr. Sullivan knew that Lex wasn't happy with what had happened and that he wouldn't put up with Chloe being hurt over their relationship. And now he also knew how much Lex loved his daughter. Almost everything inside of Lex had screamed that it wasn't safe to admit to the depth of his feelings to someone outside of their relationship, but there had been a small part of him that had insisted that it was something he had to do, that Chloe's father would never understand otherwise. Now, in hindsight, it was almost a relief to have admitted it to someone. It almost made it more real.   
  
He only hoped that Chloe wouldn't be too angry when she found out that Lex had intervened in the situation. 


	3. Conciliation

Chloe was angry. Clark thought that she might have been angrier than he had ever seen her. If nothing else, she was angrier than Clark had seen her since the three of them had all gotten together. Considering all that they had gone through in that time that was really saying something. She was usually fairly easy-going and would forgive him or Lex or anyone else easily for all sorts of things, but this time Clark had the feeling that she wasn't going to let it go without a fight. In her mind, Lex had crossed a line, gone behind her back, and then not told her about it afterwards.   
  
They had arrived home about half an hour earlier. They were home first, which was strange for a Friday especially considering that they were back an hour or so later than they normally would have been. Usually Lex would have been there for most of the day, but this time he wasn't at the house. In the kitchen they had found the note he'd left them saying that he'd needed to go into the library to get some reference materials and that he didn't plan on being too late. He would still be in time to make their date that evening and that had been the important point for Clark. In the kitchen, they had also found their voice mail message light blinking. Chloe had picked it up and found that it was from her father.   
  
It had seemed strange to her that her father would have been calling in the afternoon to speak with her, but she had told Clark that it didn't sound urgent. So, Chloe had casually called her father back and Clark had gone to let the puppy out of the enclosure they used when all three of them were out of the house. Kayla, of course, had started whining to come out as soon as the two of them had entered the house, and Clark was well enough trained by that time not to leave her waiting too long.  
  
So Clark had been out in the back playing with Kayla when Chloe stormed out of the house and expressed her intense anger at what Lex had done. Which, from what Clark had been able to glean from Chloe's rant, had been to call Chloe's father and speak to him about something he had said which had upset Chloe. Unfortunately, Clark had a good feeling that if it had been him in the same position that he might have done something similar, but he wasn't about to say that to her when she was so angry. Chloe liked to be independent, to take care of her own problems, and Clark had no issue with that, but he sure as hell didn't like seeing her hurt anymore than he knew that Lex did.  
  
And, of course, that was how Lex found them when he finally arrived home. Both of them out in the backyard, Chloe yelling, and Clark trying to calm her down enough so that they could have an actual discussion about what had happened.   
  
"Hey," Lex greeted them as he came out the back sliding door and stepped down onto the concrete pad that had been laid in front of the door. Kayla let out a small bark, broke away from the light hold Clark had on her collar, and ran to Lex's side. Lex sighed softly as yellow dog hair adhered to his expensive black pants and then leaned down to pat her. "Hello, Kay," he said with a slight laugh.  
  
He straightened up and his face changed dramatically as he saw Chloe glaring at him and Clark looking worried. Clark only hoped that this didn't turn into a huge fight. He hated it when Chloe and Lex got into each other, not that it happened often, but both of them were stubborn and neither of them liked to concede that they had done anything wrong.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked slowly, looking back and forth between the two of them. Clark knew it wasn't his place to start the conversation and so waited for Chloe to tell Lex what was bothering her. He didn't have to wait long.  
  
"You called my father," Chloe accused him quietly. Too quietly, given how loud she had been just a few moments previously. Clark knew that Chloe was most dangerous when she was calm and angry.  
  
"I did," Lex told her with a slight nod. Clark could tell that he was getting ready to defend his actions, but was glad to see that Lex wasn't yet distancing himself by pulling out one of the masks he hadn't used with either of them for so long. That, at least, was good.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"He hurt you. You didn't just think I was going to let that slide, did you Chloe? You know me better than that by now," Lex told her reasonably.   
  
Clark knew it was true. Lex was the kind of guy who dealt with things like that. He wasn't going to let someone hurt Chloe and get away with it, anymore than Clark was going to let anyone hurt either one of his lovers and get away with that. People messed with Chloe or Lex and Clark would be right there dealing with it. Maybe it was just a guy instinct, but no one was going to hurt one of his partners and just think they could walk away from it. Lex was the same way.  
  
"I can take care of myself, Lex," Chloe snapped. "I'm not your little woman, you can't go around acting like I belong to you."  
  
"I know that." Lex said.   
  
"I can deal with him. He's my father."  
  
"Which is exactly why you're not the best person to deal with him, Chloe. He needed to be told that what he was doing was wrong and you weren't the person to do it," Lex insisted. He reached up and ran his hand over his head. Lex's little nervous habit and Clark knew that the topic was hitting just a little too close to home.   
  
Lex had enough problems with his own father, and as much as he liked to think that he could take care of it himself, it wasn't always the case. Lex liked to pretend that he didn't care what his father thought, but it simply wasn't the truth. Clark suspected that to a certain extent everyone wanted their parents to be happy for them and proud of their accomplishments. Lex had never gotten that and it had been difficult for him. It had made him hard and scared and closed off from the rest of the world. Much of his and Clark's early relationship had involved trying to heal those hurts and put them in the past where they belonged.  
  
Clark still remembered the first time he himself had defended Lex to his lover's father. It had started out as a normal summer day. The two of them had been at Lex's house hanging out and thinking about maybe going for a swim when Lionel had shown up out of the blue. He'd heard about Clark before, but the two of them had never formally met. And they weren't formally introduced that day, either. Clark had been dismissed almost immediately and Lionel and started in on Lex without so much as a second glance at the boy he assumed was just another passing fancy of his son's.  
  
By that time, Clark had been with Lex long enough to think he knew something about the way Lex's business operated, so when his father had started in on the operation of the plant, Clark had felt he was in a fairly good position to tell the older man to back off and be able to back it up with his own knowledge.  
  
Clark's intervention had stunned both of the older men, and for a moment, Lex and his father had just stared at Clark. Then Lionel had laughed ironically and told Clark exactly why he was wrong. So, maybe it hadn't been as effective as he had thought it would be at first, but at least Clark had stood up for what he believed was an injustice. It was also the first time that Lex's father started to seriously consider that Clark might be a permanent fixture in Lex's life.  
  
"What did you tell him?" Chloe demanded. The tone in her voice drew Clark's full attention back to the fight that was going on in front of him. She sounded so strange, not like Chloe at all. Clark didn't even know how to classify the emotion in her voice; angry, hurt, thankful, it was all kind of tied up in the words she was saying.  
  
"The truth," Lex said simply.  
  
"What?" Chloe demanded again.  
  
"What did he say to you, Chloe?" Lex asked his own question instead of answering hers. Clark could see a slight throbbing start in the vein on the left side of Lex's head. Clark knew it would soon develop into a headache if it weren't taken care of.  
  
Clark took a step towards the other man, his innate sense of concern about Lex overriding any caution he felt about inserting himself between his two lovers when they were this angry with each other. Lex turned and fixed Clark to the spot with a look. He shook his head slightly, clearly asking Clark to stay out of this for the moment. Right now it was between him and Chloe. Later Clark could say or do whatever he felt like he needed to.  
  
"Lex," Chloe protested.  
  
"I swear," Lex said as he turned back to look at Chloe, "if he said anything to you..." Chloe cut him off before he could get any further with his thought.  
  
"You'll what? Call and yell at him again?"  
  
"I did not yell," Lex said coolly and Clark knew that the older man had been insulted by the mere implication that he would need to raise his voice in order to get something accomplished. For all that Lex had changed in the last few years, he was still himself underneath it all. He still needed to feel in charge and affective.  
  
"Then what did you say to him?" Chloe demanded once more.  
  
Apparently her father had said something to her and Chloe wasn't particularly happy about whatever it was. Of course, being how they were, Lex and Chloe were now fighting about who was going to tell first. Sometimes Clark wondered how he had managed to end up with the two most stubborn people he knew. It could really be draining at times like this.  
  
Clark just wished that one of them would tell the other what the heck was going on so that he didn't need to listen to this stupid fight any longer. And apparently he said at least part of that out loud because all of the sudden Clark had both of his lovers staring at him. That was kind of okay, he supposed. At least they were no longer snapping at each other.  
  
Lex sighed and reached up to run his hand over his head again, a sure sign to Clark that his headache was spreading and becoming worse. Clark really wished that the two of them wouldn't work each other up so much. They were both so similar in so many ways and that was the problem, but the fighting wasn't good for any of them, especially not if Lex was getting these kinds of headaches because of it.  
  
"I..."  
  
"He..."  
  
Both of them started speaking at the same time and Clark couldn't help but laugh at the irony of that situation. Chloe and Lex both looked at him like he had gone insane and then glanced at each other.  
  
"Chloe, let me," Lex said eventually. "You were so upset. I just couldn't leave it that way. We just talked, that's all. It was all very calm and civilized, I promise you."  
  
Chloe gave him a look the clearly said that wasn't the whole story and just waited for him to tell her exactly what he had said to her father.   
  
"I told him that I love you," Lex eventually admitted.  
  
That was it? Clark couldn't believe that this entire stupid fight had been about Lex telling Chloe's father that he loved Chloe. Of course, knowing how touchy Lex was about admitting his feelings to anyone outside of their tight little triangle, maybe it wasn't really so surprising after all. Clark had some understand of exactly what that admission would have taken out of his elder lover, and he respected Lex even more for having done it anyhow.  
  
"We've told him that in the past," Chloe said.   
  
And they had. When they had first told Chloe's father and the couple of times he'd heard her on the phone trying to convince him since. He'd never seemed to really be able to believe that Lex could have any real feelings towards Chloe. Clark he seemed to understand, but it was almost as if he had some kind of mental block as far as Lex was concerned. Maybe it was somehow connected with their previous working relationship. Clark suspected that no man wanted to imagine his ex-boss sleeping with his daughter. But at times it had seemed like more than that, it had seemed like a Luthor thing and Clark had a lot of experience with that kind of bias from his own father.  
  
"What made it different this time?" Chloe pressed on.  
  
"We just understand each other better now, Chloe," Lex told her gently.   
  
Clark had a suspicion that it was a little more involved than Lex was implying, but he also knew that they were reaching the limit of what Lex was going to be willing to divulge.   
  
"At least, I thought we did," Lex continued. "What did he say to you that has you this upset again?"   
  
Lex stepped forward and placed his hand on Chloe's shoulder. They all knew that the worst of the fight had passed by then. Chloe allowed Lex's touch and started blushing slightly. That caused Lex to look even more concerned.  
  
"What?" he pressed.  
  
"He apologized for making me feel badly about being with you," she told Lex. "And he asked if we wanted to come visit this summer. All three of us."  
  
For a moment there was silence from both of the men as they stared at Chloe and tried to comprehend what she had told them. Then Clark coughed and shook himself slightly.  
  
"But... that's good, Chloe," Clark insisted.  
  
"I know," she told them softly and then looked down at the ground. "It just seemed..."  
  
"Too good, too easy," Lex finished for her and nodded to himself.   
  
Clark didn't really know what was going on, but apparently Lex understood what Chloe had been thinking. Her father had come around and said that he was going to try and accept the three of them together and it had freaked Chloe out? Why? It was one of Clark's fondest dreams that someday his father would be able to at least try and understand what he had chosen to do with his life.   
  
At least his mother was supportive of the situation. It had taken her a while to accept Lex, but she eventually had. Then there had been Chloe. Clark's mother had always liked her, so it had been easier for her to understand why Clark would want to be with the petite blonde girl. It was why he would want to be with both of them at the same time that his mother still struggled with sometimes, but raising an alien son had made her much more accepting and flexible than most people and she was really trying.  
  
"You thought that I must have done something drastic to make him totally change his attitude towards us," Lex reasoned.  
  
Chloe nodded slowly. "I'm still not happy that you just took it upon yourself to call him and defend my honor."  
  
"It needed to be done, Chlo. And it needed to be me. I'm the only one he would have taken seriously about it."  
  
Chloe nodded again in response to his words and Lex seemed to understand that this was his cue to reach out and pull her into his arms. So he did. Chloe fell easily into his embrace; all of the angry fire seemed to have drained out of her.  
  
"Thank you," she said into his chest so softly that Clark almost missed it.  
  
Lex didn't answer. He just leaned down and gently kissed the top of her head.  
  
Clark heard a small whine and looked down to see Kay, never one to miss out on any type of embrace that went on in her presence, snuggling up to Lex's leg. Even more hair attached itself to Lex's leg and Clark couldn't help but grimace. Their cleaning bill had doubled since getting the puppy. If only he could convince Lex to wear something more practical, or at least machine washable.  
  
"So should we go?" Clark asked after a few moments of their embrace. He was starting to feel a little left out  
  
"Hmm?" Chloe mumbled and turned her face to look at him. She maintained contact with Lex's chest with her cheek. Lex turned to look at Clark as well.  
  
"To your dad's place. Do you think we should go?" Clark reiterated.  
  
Lex sighed. "I guess we should," he said after a moment.  
  
"He's trying," Chloe agreed. "We should support that."  
  
Clark nodded his agreement with that. Again he was reminded of the contrast with his own father. "I guess that settles it, then," Clark said.  
  
"It will be interesting," Lex supplied.  
  
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Family," she sighed.  
  
"Yes," Lex agreed in a surprisingly content tone and moved his hand so that he could stroke Chloe's hair. He turned to look at Clark who was again starting to feel a little left out. "Speaking of which," Lex said and reached out with the arm not attached to the hand stroking Chloe's hair and drew Clark into their embrace. "That's much better."  
  
"Much," Chloe agreed with a smile and wrapped her arm around Clark's waist.  
  
Clark smiled happily and embraced both of his lovers. They had faced another problem together and come out on the other side stronger. If they could only keep doing that, he knew there was nothing out there that they couldn't eventually overcome. Even his own father. Or Lex's. That might be even more of a challenge. But Clark didn't want to think of any of that right then. He just wanted to hold his lovers and he happy that the storm had passed.   
  
-End-  
  
02/06/11 


	4. A note about this series

I've had a lot of requests lately from people who want to know where the other stories in this series can be found, or more specifically, where the end of Choices can be found. So in response, this is a note to let people know that. All of my Smallville fic can be found on my webpage at http://www.jadesfic.com. Other stories in this series that are currently posted there are:  
  
Taking Chances Perfect Weekend Choices  
  
As always, if you need to speak with me you can email me at jade@jadesfic.com or reach me on ICQ. My ICQ number is: 2461214.  
  
Thank you all for reading. I hope to see you somewhere else in this fandom in the future.  
  
Cheers, Jade 


End file.
